Beyblade
Beyblade (ベイブレード Beiburedo) is a spinning top developed and manufactured by Takara starting in 1999. Both the toys and their name were inspired by "Beigoma", a traditional Japanese top toy. The introduction of the toy in Japan corresponded with the broadcast of an anime television series of the same name. In 2002, Hasbro began to sell Beyblade toys internationally (under license from, and produced by, Takara) along with a coordinated country-by-country rollout of localized versions of the TV series. The Beyblade toy line went on to be one of the most popular toy lines in the world from 2000-2005 and as of 2005 over 100 million units had been sold worldwide. In August 2008, Takara Tomy released a new generation of Beyblade with a metal outer layer; the first incarnation of the toy in three and a half years. In the basic rules of the game, one player wins by knocking the competitor's Beyblade out of a dish, commonly called a Beystadium, or to outspin the competing top(s) (whereby the top that stops spinning first loses). Hasbro's version of the Beystadium is enclosed and has "penalty pockets" which are able to stop the Beyblade from spinning, but the top may come back out. These Beyblades may have pictures on them that symbolizes a creature (known as a Bit-Beast) which shows what the Beyblade does, or looks like. Through the lifespan of Beyblade toy line, there have been different generations of architectures introduced in the TV series. Basic System The "Basic System" tops are the first generation of Beyblade tops. They are made entirely of plastic, with the exception of Weight Disks and some tips. These Beyblades consist of five basic parts: * Bit Chip: A decorative plate inserted into the Attack Ring of the Beyblade, adorned with a small icon of a mythical creature. In the anime, these creatures' souls were actually housed in the Beyblades themselves. * Attack Ring: The Attack Ring determines the blade's effect when it impacts against its opponent, as this is normally the first part to come into contact with the opposing blade. * Weight Disk: The Weight Disk affects the power and speed of the Beyblade. * Spin Gear: The Spin Gear determines the direction of the Beyblade's rotation; either clockwise (right) or counterclockwise (left). Also, the Spin Gear holds the Attack Ring in place on the top, preventing it from coming off mid-battle. * Blade Base: The bottom part of the Beyblade which houses the Spin Gear. * Tip: The tip determines how the Beyblade spins, and also affects its movement pattern. The tip and the Blade Base are commonly one single piece; alternately, the tip can be attached to the Spin Gear. The first tops consisted of a four-layer part system: Bit Chip, Attack Ring, Weight Disk, and Blade Base; the Spin Gear would lock into the Blade Base, essentially making the top only four layers after initial construction. Upon the arrival of the S- and F-series Beyblades, Spin Gears were introduced that were removable and interchangeable, thus creating a five-layer system. Magnacore System (MG) Introduced with the V-series, the "Magnacore" line of Beyblade toys featured magnetic Spin Gears and Weight Disks to attract or repel blades from each other. Additionally, one could purchase magnets that were affixed to the bottom of one's Beystadium, which affected the movement patterns of the Beyblades. Engine Gear System (EG) Engine Gear tops were introduced with the G-series, and retain the same major design of a typical Beyblade, including a Bit Chip, an Attack Ring, a Weight Disk, and a Blade Base; Engine Gear tops, however, replace the typical Spin Gear with a more advanced Engine Gear, which affects the behavior of the top during the battle. Each Engine Gear includes a Turbo Winder to wind-up the engine core. When in action, the Blade Base releases the Engine Gear determined by the Blade Base's clutch lock system. Engine Gear Types * Engine Gear: The default engine gear that comes with most beyblades, but their tip is varied. * Turbo Engine Gear: First released with the left-spinning Dragoon GT, the Turbo Engine Gear gives an even more powerful release than that of the original engine gear. Comes with a larger turbo winder. * Reverse Gear: The Engine Gear spins in the opposite direction of the rest of the top. This engine gear is only bundled with Dranzer GT, which uses this gear for a reverse zig-zag attack. Although this attack can be very effective, the beyblade loses spin when the gear kicks in. As with Dragoon GT, it comes with a larger turbo winder. * Gyro Engine Gear: This unique type allows the tip of the Beyblade to spin independently. Thus the beyblade can be launched without a launcher, as a rip cord can be inserted into the beyblade. Only used for Torch/Flame and Thunder Pegasus (which are identical except for color). Blade Base Types * Instant Release or First Clutch: The Engine Gear triggers at the beginning of the battle, resulting in a large burst of speed almost immediately after launch. * Steady Release: The Engine Gear triggers at the beginning of the battle, but releases earlier because of the weight of the beyblade on the larger or wider revolving blade base, which is attached directly to the engine gear. Used in Rock Bison and Wolborg 4. * Hit Release or Final Clutch: The Engine Gear triggers when the blade base collides with an object, or when the beyblade is running out of spin, and releases a quick burst of speed. The clutches must be pulled prior to winding the spin gear. * Middle Clutch: Built exclusively for Dranzer GT, the middle clutch has a similar design to the final clutch base, but releases the engine gear in the middle of the match; earlier than a final clutch but not instant as in the First Clutch base. Customizable Engine Weights For the 2 GT Series Beyblades that were released, the Engine Gear that comes with them is intended for use with the Customizable Engine Weight of each top. The Engine Gears, however, can fit with the "Clutch" bases. Heavy/Hard Metal System (HMS) Beyblade HMS (Heavy/Hard Metal System) is a line of Beyblade toys released after the Engine Gear line of blades in respect to the anime series. This series, unlike ones in the past, use smaller pieces made mostly of metal. HMS Beyblades have a distinct advantage over previously released Beyblades, that being that their spin velocities are 1.5-2x faster.http://www.beywiki.com/index.php?title=HMS Heavy Metal System Article at Beywiki These tops are composed of a four-layer part system: * Bit Protector: This holds the parts together, unlike its plastic counterpart, the Bit Chip, which was merely decorative. With the release of the first 5 HMS Beyblades, 2 different stickers for made for the Bit Protector, one of a "bit beast" and one of the emblem. The emblem stickers were the only ones that appeared in later Beyblade toys. * Attack Ring: This is composed of an inner metal part screwed to an outer ASB caul. * Weight Disk: HMS Weight Disks are completely circular, unlike plastic Weight Disks which were shaped as hexa-, octa-, and decagons. There are also Customizable Weight Disks, which have plastic and metal parts, the plastic parts giving the Weight Disk a certain feature. * Running Core: The Blade Base of HMS. HMS blades do not use Spin Gears or Engine Gears, nor do they require them since the blade can be launched from both spin directions. This is possible through the HMS Neo Dual Launcher, which allows such spin-changing. Metal Fight Beyblade / Metal Fight System (MFB) In October 2008 Takara-Tomy reintroduced Beyblade as Metal Fight Beyblade. It is incompatible with previous systems as it is a complete reboot of the toy. At first only four were released; Leone, Sagittario, Bull and Pegasis (all based on mythical animals from the Western Zodiac represented by constellations). More have been released in 2008 and additional toys are planned for 2009. The name of the beyblade is determined by the face symbol (for example: Pegasis 105F has a symbol of Pegasus on the face). This version of Beyblade will be released in North America as "Beyblade: Metal Fusion". http://news.awn.com/index.php?ltype=top&newsitem_no=27947 The parts are as follows. *'Face': It is similar to the bit protector of the HMS series and has a symbol of a beast on it. *'Wheel': It is similar to the Attack Ring of both the HMS series and the previous plastic-based toys, but made completely of metal, thus the name Metal Fight. *'Track': This determines the height of the beyblade and can have gimmicks. *'Bottom': The tip of metal fight beyblades. It is important to the beyblade's spinning characteristic. Hybrid Wheel System (HWS) This system was released in 2009. It is an update of the Metal Fight System which introduces new components making the Beyblades more complex including a wheel made of polycarbonate and more technically advanced bottoms. As in the previous system, the name of the beyblade is determined by the parts and bitbeast. Continuing the Zodiac/Constellation-based theme, the first new generation Beyblades to be released are Storm Pegasis 105RF (Rubber Flat), Rock Leone 145WB (Wide Ball), Dark Wolf DF145FS (Downforce 145 Flat Sharp), and Mad Cancer CH120FS (Change Height 120 Flat Sharp). Flame Sagittario C145S (Claw 145 Sharp) was also released, and Dark Bull H145SD, Wind Aquario 100CB, Lightning L Drago 100HF (Hole Flat), Earth Aquila 145WD (Wide Defense), Stardust Pegasis, and Flame Libra T145ES are set to be released. The parts of the new Beyblades are as follows. Face/ Metal Face: Similar to the previous system, these are made of plastic or metal respectively. Clear Wheel: These are composed of CPC (Polycarbonate). Second Wheel: These are made of either metal (Metal Wheel) or plastic (Light Wheel). Track: There are newer ones in this system with more features. Bottom: In this system, there are new bottoms to ensure greater performance Differences between Takara and Hasbro Beyblades There are several differences between beyblades made by Takara and Hasbro: * Takara has weaker adhesives for the Beyblade stickers * Hasbro has changed the names of some Beyblades * There are no longer MagneCores in Hasbro V2 Beyblades (BBA Championship Series) * Hasbro's version of the Customize Clutch Base (Dranzer V2) has had the clutch removed and was originally fixed in the sharp position and could not be changed. Later releases contain a properly working clutch. * Hasbro's version of Uriel 2 was named Capricorn Strike G. It has a golden colored gyro(Flame Pegasus) instead of the original Weight Disk/Support Parts/Blade Base/Spin Gear. * Hasbro changed Trypio's Attack Ring to not be able to fly. * Hasbro changed the start of a battle from "3, 2, 1, Go Shoot" to "3, 2, 1, Let It Rip". * Hasbro released many of the Random Booster blades in a different series rather than in Random Boosters. * The initial version of Driger V made by Hasbro had a completely sharp metal tip on the blade base, while the Takara version had a semi flat tip. Many fans complained about Hasbro's change, and Hasbro later changed the metal tip to be semi-flat. * Hasbro's versions of the "Hidden Spirit" beyblades had small joints for the "dragon parts" to attach to on the attack ring, making that mode just for show. Takara had the small joints on the blade bases, making the beyblade launchable in this mode. * The "Heavy Metal" system was marketed by Hasbro as the "Hard Metal" system. The aim of the game The aim of the game is to have the last standing spinning Beyblade. This can be achieved by: making the opposing Beyblade(s) stop spinning, knocking the opposing Beyblades(s) out of the BeyStadium or simply having the longest spinning Beyblade, achieved through the Beyblade's endurance. Category:Browse Category:Beyblades